Recycling Craft: Make A Book Safe

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

17 May 2007 02:24 PM

Here is a great craft made out of a recyclable resource, an old book.

A book safe is a perfect place to put all of the money you have been saving by living a frugal lifestyle. I like the idea of book safe because not only is it a good place to hide your money (the book will blend well with others on your shelf), but there is something very old world about having a book safe. It is mysteriously appealing. Not only can you hide your money in it, but you can also use your book safe for jewelry, keepsakes and other valuables.

For this craft, you will need a hard cover book. Any hard cover book you no longer need can be used, as long as it is in good shape. Thicker books work better, because they can old more items. If the book has a dust jacket (paper cover), remove it before making your book safe. You can then replace the dust jacket after you make the book safe.

You will also need an Exacto knife, nail scissors, a piece of fabric or felt to line your safe, a hot glue gun (with glue sticks), a small piece of cardboard, a ruler and a pencil.

Here are the instructions:

1. Open the book and mark out a rectangle on one of the first pages using your ruler and pencil. Determine how deep you want to cut by measuring from the back of the book forward. Mark the page that indicates the depth you want to have.
2. With the Exacto knife, use your rectangle as a guide to cut through about 1/4 inch of the book pages. Watch out for the corners and make even cuts. You can place another book under the open front cover of the book you are cutting to help it lay flat.
3. Remove the rectangle of pages you just cut. You can then use the nail scissors to trim any sloppy edges, if you like. Continue cutting through more pages in stages, until you reach the depth that you want (your marked page).
4. With the glue gun, place glue in the corners and up the insides of your cut out rectangle. While the glue is still tacky, glue strips of your fabric all around the corners and edges to hide the cuts. Cut your cardboard to the size of your opening. Cut a piece of fabric to the same size and glue it to the cardboard. Then glue it to the bottom of your cut out rectangle. Make sure there is no glue or ribbon sticking up from the rectangle or the book won't close.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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